#27 Backstory of the Poem “Carmen Polo, Lady Necklaces, 2017” by Gloria Mindock
Can you go through the step-by-step process of writing this poem from the moment the idea was first conceived in your brain until final form? I write about so many atrocities past and present. Francisco Franco was such a brutal dictator that I decided to write about him. I was thinking about the people who died and survived and the title of my manuscript came first. It is called, “I wish Francisco Franco Would Love Me.”
A few poems were written and then it was put on hold because of another manuscript for well over a year. Finally, this fall through January (of 2017), I started to work on the poems. My poem, “Carmen Polo, Lady Necklaces, 2017” is one of the last poems written for the manuscript. I was doing research about Franco and started to read a little bit about her and her love for him.
Where were you when you started to actually write the poem? And please describe the place in great detail. I was sitting in the kitchen at the table. It is a vibrate small kitchen. The walls are deep yellow. I have 2 huge David Hockney pictures on the wall that have every color in them especially red and orange. There are red pepper lights, flowers and things that have a Spanish flair. I love the colors red, aqua, blue and black in a kitchen. It makes me feel alive. I have seen pictures of houses in Mexico and I love the colors so I do that in my kitchen. One wall is red brick which really makes it look warm. I have a bakers rack that takes up almost one whole wall. It is filled with food, pots and pans etc…
What month and year did you start writing this poem? January, 2017. I remember it was a Saturday morning around 9:00AM (RIGHT: Gloria in January 2017)
How many drafts of this poem did you write before going to the final? (And can you share a photograph of your rough drafts with pen markings on it?) The poem went through one draft and then I was happy with it. I did not bother with stanza breaks while writing it. I did this when typing the poem on the computer.
Were there any lines in any of your rough drafts of this poem that were not in the final version? And can you share them with us? Only one. “Your body was unlucky.” It did not fit the poem.
What do you want readers of this poem to take from this poem? The heart can be tragic.
Which part of the poem was the most emotional of you to write and why? What is emotional about the poem is Carmen knew what he was doing but she still stayed with him. How could anyone stay with a killer? These lines were the most emotional to write.
She liked to censor everyone around her, to protect her man.
Even she could not escape being trapped in marriage.
She always appeared with Franco.
Blood affected every household.
It was never red, always black, dark and
stormy.
She kept going back for a daily dose.
She could not help it.
Fancy dresses and traveling. She never knew that
Franco was erasing her heart.
Has this poem been published before? And if so where? No. I never sent this poem out forconsideration to a literary journal. My poetry collection I Wish Francisco Would Love Me is published by Nixes Mate Books (http://nixesmate.pub/i-wish-francisco-franco-would-love-me-gloria-mindock/). This is exciting! Their books are gorgeous and they all are just wonderful and supportive. Some of the poems have been published in Constellations: A Journal of Poetry and Fiction, Ibbetson Street, Muddy River Poetry Review, Unlikely Stories, Writing in a Woman’s
Voice, and Nixes Mate Review.
Anything you would like to add? The title of the poetry collection is in present tense on purpose. I liked the sound of it. Simple as that. A few writers could not understand the title being in present tense. I don’t care. The poetry collection does not make fun of the horror that took place. Many poems are written in first person. The poems are really the voices of all the people. They wanted a leader who would love his country and all the people in it.
Gloria Mindock is the founding editor of Cervená Barva Press and one of the USA editors for Levure Litteraire (France). She is the author of Whiteness of Bone (Glass Lyre Press, 2016), La Porţile Raiului (Ars Longa Press, Romania) translated into the Romanian by Flavia Cosma, Nothing Divine Here, Blood Soaked Dresses, and 3 chapbooks. Widely published in the USA and abroad, her poetry has been translated and published into the Romanian, Croation, Serbian, Montenegrin, Spanish, Estonian, and French. Gloria was awarded the Ibbetson Street Press Lifetime Achievement Award, and was the recipient of the Allen Ginsberg Award for Community Service by the Newton Writing and Publishing Center. Gloria recently was published in Gargoyle, Constellations: A Journal of Poetry and Fiction, Muddy River Poetry Review, Unlikely Stories and Nixes Mate Review and anthology. She is currently the Poet Laureate in Somerville, MA. She is also Executive Director of Read American Read. Her newest poetry collection is I Wish Francesco Franco Would Love Me published by Nixes Mate Books, 2018.
Backstory of the Poem Series
001 Backstory of the Poem
“12 – 2014” from the poetry collection BEFORE THE DROUGHT by Margo Berdeshevsky published by Glass Lyre Press on September 15, 2017
#002 Backstory of the Poem
“82 Miles from the Beach, We Order The Lobster At Clear Lake Café”
by Alexis Rhone Fancher
#003 Backstory of the Poem
“Orange”
by Barbara Crooker
https://christalcooper.com/003-backstory-of-the-poem-orange-by-barbara-crooker/
#004 Backstory of the Poem
“Modern Matsushima”
by Sonia Saikaley
https://christalcooper.com/004-backstory-of-the-poem-modern-matsushima-by-sonia-saikaley/
#005 Backstory of the Poem
“Side Yard”
By Ellen Foos
http://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2018/01/5-backstory-of-poem-sidewalk-by-ellen.html
#006 Backstory of the Poem
“The Ringmaster”
By Susan Sundwall
https://christalcooper.com/006-backstory-of-the-poem-the-ringmaster/
#007 Backstory of the Poem
“That Night”
by Leslea Newman
https://christalcooper.com/007-backstory-of-the-poem-that-night-by-leslea-newman/
#008 Backstory of the Poem
“June Fairchild Isn’t Dead”
by Alexis Rhone Fancher
#009 Backstory of the Poem
“The Gift of the Year with Granny”
By Charles Clifford Brooks III
#010 Backstory of the Poem
“The Natural Reflection of Your Palms”
by Scott Thomas Outlar
https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2018/03/chris-ricecooper-caccoopaol.html
#011 Backstory of the Poem
“After Diane Beatty’s Photograph “History Abandoned”
by Anya Francesca Jenkins
#012 Backstory of the Poem
“What I Learned This Week”
By Angela Narciso Torres
#013 Backstory of the Poem
“Holidays On ICE”
By Jan Steckel
https://christalcooper.com/013-backstory-of-the-poem-holiday-on-ice-by-jan-steckel/
#014 Backstory of the Poem
“Colors”
by Ibrahim Honjo
https://christalcooper.com/014-backstory-of-the-poem-colors-by-ibrahim-honjo/
#015 Backstory of the Poem
“Ode To Disappointment”
By Marilyn Kallett
https://christalcooper.com/015-backstory-of-the-poem-ode-to-disappointment-by-marilyn-kallet/
#016 Backstory of the Poem
“Reliquary”
by Beth Copeland
#017 Backstory of the Poem
‘The Swallows of Barcelona”
by Marlon L. Fick
https://christalcooper.com/17-backstory-of-the-poem-the-swallows-of-barcelona-by-marlon-fick/
#18th Backstory of the Poem
“Arterial Discombobulation”
by Juliet Cook
#19th Backstory of the Poem
“Stiletto Killer . . . A Surmise” from the poetry collection ENTER HERE
By Alexis Rhone Fancher
#20 Backstory of the Poem
“At Last I Can Start Suffering”
By Charles Rammelkamp
#21 Backstory of the Poem
“Wind Chimes”
by Marla Shaw O’Neil
#022 Backstory of the Poem
“Studying Ariel”
by Julia Gordon-Bramer
https://christalcooper.com/22-backstory-of-the-poem-studying-ariel-by-julia-gordon-bramer/
#023 Backstory of Poem
“Jesus Zombie”
by Bill Yarrow
https://christalcooper.com/23-backstory-of-the-poem-jesus-zombie-by-bill-yarrow/
#24 Backstory of the Poem
“Brag 2016:
by Telaina Eriksen
#025 Backstory of the Poem
“It is only Yourself that Bends – so Wake up!”
by Seth Berg
#26 Backstory of the Poem
“Devil In the Details”
by David Herrle
https://christalcooper.com/26-backstory-of-the-poem-devil-in-the-details-by-david-herrle/
027 August 13, 2018